Kosovo arrests nine Serbs on war crimes suspicion

Kosovo police arrested nine Serbs on Sunday in the northern town of Zubin Potok on suspicion of war crimes allegedly committed during the 1990s war for independence from Serbia, authorities said.

Kosovo police and the Special Prosecutor's Office said the operation, codenamed Dossier 23, was linked to the case of missing Albanian intellectuals from Mitrovica. They did not disclose the identities of those arrested.

The arrests followed the July and August excavation of two newly discovered mass graves in the Serb-majority Zubin Potok area, where the remains of at least 23 people were found. Authorities believe the remains include members of the so-called Group of Intellectuals, including doctors, professors and human rights activists who disappeared in April 1999.

Authorities confirmed earlier this month that three sets of remains had been identified as belonging to members of the group. Three other suspects from the area had previously been arrested as part of the same investigation.

Serbia's government office for Kosovo condemned Sunday's operation, saying nine Serbs had been arrested under the pretext of alleged involvement in a war crime. It said the aim was to pressure Zubin Potok and intimidate the remaining Serbian population.

The 1998-1999 war between independence-seeking ethnic Albanian guerrillas and Serbian forces killed around 13,000 people and left around 4,000 missing. Authorities have recovered the remains of thousands of people over decades, but around 1,600 people remain missing.